Luca Baraldi, the truth about Sergio Scariolo’s farewell.
The words of Luca Baraldi
Speaking to Radio Sportiva today, Virtus Segafredo Bologna CEO Luca Baraldi analyzed the moment of the HCL season. Many topics were touched upon by the virtussino executive, starting with the current standings situation in the Euroleague. "The two consecutive defeats cause a stir, but they are a snapshot of our season in that up to now we have suffered very few defeats in previous games, and they have come after numerous important games such as in the league with Reggio, the previous Friday in Berlin and before that against Bayern Munich. For this reason the physical aspect for a team playing away è decisive, so much so that many top teams have lost many games just away from home, the home factor in Europe has a very important value, as it does to date for us. Our European home performances can be accumulated with those of Real Madrid, with a record of 9 to 1. The court factor, our Virtus Segafredo Arena and, above all, the presence of our fans are determining elements".
European goals chapter: “Our goal è to improve on last year’s ranking which was 14°, at the moment we have equaled the same number of wins as last season, there are still 13 to go, one win we should find between now and the end. This was the’goal we had also given to the technical area, then rightly the’shareholder, wanting the most from his investments, asked for entry into the playoffs, this è the’goal of the season. At the moment we are in a good situation, there are so many games left and our competitors are companies with top rosters and with investments far greater than ours. We are in our second participation in the Euroleague, after two decades of absence. If we analyze the performance of the teams in their first continental participations, they are all mid- to lower-ranked, from this point of view we are satisfied.”
Quotation on the bench: "We had no intention of doing a change operation, precisely because we had one of the best coaches in the world, then as a result of the press conference and other things that happened in the last period, we realized that perhaps there was no longer a sharing of the path and unity of vision of the composition and management of the team. It è preferred to think about change. The facts proved us right, and thanks to the skill and intuition of our General Manager Paolo Ronci, we decided on Banchi. As soon as he brought me this kind of solution I immediately espoused it. I did not know him personally but I had followed him as a coach, a coach who asserted values, not only technical, but also very interesting from the point of view of locker room management. Following the performance of his national team at the World Championship we went straight on this decision".
